So, I knew about the whole "black bar at the bottom of the screen" issue from some other threads, so I decided to upgrade GSdx to the latest version from GSdx890.

While this enhanced my graphics even more, my previous "black bar" problem turned into a blinking screen problem. Basically, whenever I'm moving really fast on Agro [the horse] or am in an area where the game is loaded a lot of the environment quickly, my entire screen blinks black for a split second [usually a few times in succession].

Is there a known cause for this? I've tried tweaking just about everything I can think of, but nothing seems to change it or affect it at all.

I'm pretty sure it's not any of my system specs because I get an almost constant 60fps while playing. I might have something turned on in my GPU that shouldn't be, though. Never had anything like this happen before.

(10-26-2009, 05:33 PM)Tsuchirinhon Wrote: Basically, whenever I'm moving really fast on Agro [the horse] or am in an area where the game is loaded a lot of the environment quickly, my entire screen blinks black for a split second [usually a few times in succession].

That sounds like blinking caused by frameskipping. Does sound stutter also when this happens? Have you tried it with only frame limiting on?

(10-26-2009, 05:33 PM)Tsuchirinhon Wrote: Basically, whenever I'm moving really fast on Agro [the horse] or am in an area where the game is loaded a lot of the environment quickly, my entire screen blinks black for a split second [usually a few times in succession].

That sounds like blinking caused by frameskipping. Does sound stutter also when this happens? Have you tried it with only frame limiting on?

The sound doesn't stutter, from what I noticed.

I've tried messing with frame limiting, but none of the four modes gets rid of the blinking. However, the blinking occurs less often in Normal Mode, but it occurs more often in VU skip.

Another small thing I noticed was that there are some colored boxes present during the blinking if I turn on Progressive Scan in the in-game menu. In other words, when it blinks black for that split second, I can see some colored pixels/whatever that are always in the same place and the same color [usually bunched together in boxes.] However, when Progressive Scan is off, it's only black.

So far, these are the only two factors that seem to have any effect on the blinking whatsoever.

I could always go back to the older version of GSdx if it's necessary [because a small black bar is much, much more tolerable than a blinking screen during gameplay]. However, it still puzzles me why it only does this on the newer version of GSdx.

Another big development: if I turn down the speed hack to x2, as opposed to x3, the blinking disappears completely. Of course, this makes my game run at 40fps, which is terrible, but still.

I've noticed that on all of my other games, if I don't put frame limiting on, the FPS shoots up to a ridiculous number, and the games move at hyper speed. Is my CPU moving too fast or something?

Also, whenever the blinks occur, I've noticed that the bloom effect in the sky [I think it's bloom, anyway] sort of 'resets' itself. Basically, the clouds and whatnot acts like it's not bright, then the sky starts to get really bright again. Although, I've noticed that the sky is a little bright, in general. If I turn the camera upwards, it gets pretty darn bright and makes it hard to see. I think this whole blinking issue has something to do with the lighting, because if I angle the camera so to the ground, it only blinks when I start going into a place that's darker or lighter than where I am now. Just a theory, though.

x3 cycle rate? Are you still using the PCSX2 0.9.6? Grab the latest beta and use the VU Cycle Stealing hack. It's way more effective for Shadow of the Colossus. I use it set to Moderate, and the EE Cycle rate 1.5 hack for this game.

Depending on your specs, you might need to bump those hacks up slightly, but if you were getting 40 FPS with x2 cycle rate, you should be getting full or near full speeds with moderate VU Cycle stealing and 1.5x EE Cycle rate. Shadow of the Colossus also works well with cycle stealing set to full, unlike many other games.